I’ve been playing with a few Generative AI tools over the last few weeks to generate images for my blog posts as I don’t always have time to get Photoshop fired up on my aging laptop. having AI tools available to be able to do this is amazing, and to be honest my design pales in comparison to the things that these AI tools can come up with.

This got me thinking, rather than asking Meta.ai, Microsoft CoPiolt, Google Gemini or OpenAI to create a rather simple featured image. Could I get some of my old ideas out of my head and onto “paper” without having to spend weeks crawling inside Blender or Photoshop to show you one of my grand ideas that cost way too much? turns out I can. So I thought I’d share some of the images that the different Generative AIs came up with and tell you all about one of my massive ideas that I don’t think will ever see the life of day.

The Eco-Village

I’ve had an idea in my head for a fair few years now. The basic idea is an eco-village that is laid out circularly with a venue at its centre that has shops built into the lower levers of the venue that are used for the things villages may need daily. There would then be 4 rings of building and land around the venue.

The first two rings would be houses for the villagers. The next ring would be filled with workshops and community spaces for the owners of the shops and the villages to use to work on projects or products for the shops. The final ring would be land used to produce food for the village to make it as self-sustaining as possible.

Each of the buildings on the site would have solar panels, grass roofs and skylights. Ideally, I would also have no roads but still allow cars to get to the properties using an underground road network. As crazy as that may sound I always wondered why there was a tunnel system under the streets that could be used not only for traffic to keep the streets clear for pedestrians, it would also be a great way of getting services to the properties and allow easy access to them if repairs needed to be made rather than digging up the street. Each home would also have a basement linked to the tunnels that would also be used as a garage for any cars or other transport. A bit of a pie-in-the-sky idea but hey it’s a dream scenario right?

With my background in events, of course, the centrepiece of the village is the venue. Not massive by any means but big enough for all of the residents to attend if they want. This would be a multipurpose venue not only covering live shows but also a studio space and a couple of radio studios along with a couple of recording studios.

I’ve always believed that the arts have a huge part to play in helping build a community, though I could be a bit biased considering I’ve been involved in the arts in one form or another for over 20 years. Making it the Center of the village not only gives folks a place to meet and enjoy live entertainment but would solidify the village as the go-to place for artists to live in the UK.

What do you think of my ridiculous idea of building an eco-village with subterranean roads and parking? Is it too madcap to even think about any more? Do you know someone who would be willing to bankroll something like this? Let me know. I’d love to hear your thoughts.